Man charged with having 'mobile meth lab'

December 26, 2010

A Washington man faces felony drug charges after he was found passed out Christmas Day in the back of a taxi, seated beside a duffel bag holding an alleged "mobile meth lab" and nearly $450,000 worth of suspected methamphetamine.

The cab driver brought Joseph Andrew Hoffman, 25, of Vancouver, Wash., to the Rogers Park District police station around 2 p.m. Saturday, stating Hoffman was unresponsive and would not pay his fare, a police report states.

When officers went through Hoffman's bag searching for identification, they found "chemical bottles holding a clear, crystalline" substance, wired to a power source. A Chicago Fire Department Hazardous Materials team checked out the device, which was identified by police as a "mobile meth lab," according to police reports.

Hoffman was treated at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where a police report states he gave consent for them to search his residence in the 800 block of Dakin Street on Chicago's North Side, where they in turn found a gallon jug of GHB, one of several sedative substances known as a so-called date rape drug, as well as Ecstacy tablets, baggies of what appeared to be marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Hoffman was conscious and alert in Cook County bond court Sunday and shook his head in disbelief when prosecutors stated the street value of just the alleged methamphetamine was $448,000.

Hoffman was charged with five felony counts and was ordered held on $100,000 bond.